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Majority of Athens homeless ended up on street in past five years, study finds

Seventy-one percent of the Greek capital’s homeless population has ended up on the streets in the last five years and 21.7 percent in the last year alone, a study by the City of Athens’s Homeless Shelter (KYADA), funded by the Norwegian government and other European countries, has found.

According to the study, which was conducted as part of the “Fighting Poverty and Social Exclusion” program and whose findings were presented by Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis on Monday evening, 62 percent of the capital’s homeless are Greeks, the overwhelming majority (85.4 percent) are men and most (57 percent) are aged between 35-55.

Of the 451 respondents questioned by KYADA workers from March 2015 until the same month this year, 47 percent said they ended up on the street after losing their job and 29 percent said they do not want to move to a shelter or other organized facility.

Less than half of the respondents (41.2 percent) admitted to using drugs, 7.3 percent to alcohol and 2 percent to both.

Kaminis also said that in the one-year period, the solidarity program helped distribute 46,156 supermarket food coupons worth around 1.85 million euros to nearly 9,000 beneficiaries in over 3,700 families.

“Through its social structures and strong alliances with agencies, partners and simple citizens, the City of Athens help give support to more than 25,000 residents,” Kaminis said at the presentation, which was also attended by Norwegian Ambassador to Athens Jorn Eugene Gjelstad.

The study was conducted with the help of the Public Issue polling company.

The number of people experiencing some form of homelessness in the greater Athens area last year was estimated at over 9,000.